Ace of Spies

Abstract

'Zounds. Would he be Prince of Spies, perchance Ace of Spies, were he not thick as pigshit, m’lord?' Augustus Van Caveat, court dandy to the monarchs of Europe. Bon viveur, devilishly handsome cad. Conman, brothel keeper, fantasist, consummate idiot. One night in Amsterdam, he is roughed up by the Spanish Inquisition and then kidnapped by their arch enemies, agents of Queen Elizabeth's protector Francis Walsingham. Frumagemmed across the North Sea, Caveat is manhandled all the way to Windsor where Walsingham recruits him, no choice in the matter. Papists are plotting, the Armada is here and Caveat must head North to salve a weeping sore on Regina's realm. Caveat's mission is to seduce the Catholic widow of a notorious rebel, bringing all his womanizing charms to bear. His mark is Lady Sarah Chingle, but the master of pomp has little grasp that the future of Europe depends on his scurrilous antics. God help us all